Burn (Japanese: やけどBurn) is one of the five major status ailments in the Pokémon games. Generally, if a Pokémon is burned, it will lose a set amount of HP every turn, and its damage dealt by Physical moves will be halved. The burn status is evidently associated closely with the Fire type, since most moves which can burn belong to this type, Pokémon of this type are immune to burns, and the Fire-type Pokémon exclusive Flame Body has a chance to burn on contact.

Effect

In general, a burned Pokémon will lose HP every turn, and its damage dealt with a Physical move will be halved. The specifics work differently between generations.

Generation I

Red, Blue, and Yellow

In Red, Blue, and Yellow Versions, a Pokémon loses 1/16 of its total HP every turn, after it attacks. Its attack stat is also halved. If a burned Pokémon causes an opponent to faint, it will not take damage that turn.

There are also two irregularities:

If a burned Pokémon's Attack stat is modified (either up or down), the game will ignore the attack drop from the burn.

The decrease in Attack doesn't disappear when the Pokémon is cured of the burn through Rest.

Pokémon Stadium

Pokémon Stadium is the same as Red, Blue, and Yellow Versions, but the irregularities from said handheld games are fixed.

Pokémon Stadium also contains two irregularities:

If an already-burned Pokémon is switched in, it will not lose HP in that same turn.

Generation II

Same as Generation I, but a burned Pokémon now loses 1/8 of its total HP each turn, after it attacks. All irregularities from Generation I were fixed.

Generations III and IV

Like in Generation II, a burned Pokémon has its damage dealt with a Physical move halved, in addition to losing 1/8 of its total HP each turn, but only until the end of the turn. If a burned Pokémon knocks out an opponent, it now will still take burn damage.

Generation V

Same as Generation III and IV, but when a Pokémon is burnt, it will now glow red in battle.

Causes

Moves

A Pokémon can be burned when struck by any of the following moves. There is only one move, Will-O-Wisp, whose primary effect is to burn the opponent; all other moves listed below burn as a secondary effect.

Other causes

A Pokémon has a 30% chance of being burned after making contact with one with the Flame Body Ability. If a Pokémon holds the Flame Orb, it will be burned at the end of the turn. It can also be burned if it directly burns a Pokémon with Synchronize.

A Pokémon with the AbilityHeatproof will only lose 1/16 of its HP each turn, instead of 1/8th. Those with Guts are immune to the damage-reducing side effect (in addition of the regular attack increase), while Pokémon with Magic Guard are immune to the HP loss. Fire-type Pokémon are, for the most part, immune to being burned, although if their type is changed through a move like Soak, and is then burned and switched out to return the type to Fire, the burn status will remain. Inferno will inflict burn before Color Change takes effect, as well. Those with the Water Veil Ability are completely immune.

Advantages

While a burn, like all major status ailments, has primarily negative effects, it can be advantageous to have it in certain conditions. Pokémon with Guts, Marvel Scale, Quick Feet, and Flare Boost will have their Attack, Defense, Speed, and Special Attack increased, respectively, when burned (or poisoned or paralyzed for the former three). In addition, the base power of Facade is doubled (from 70 to 140) when inflicted with any of these three status ailments.

The burn status also adds a 1.5× multiplier to the catch rate of any given Pokémon.

Other game effects

Several Abilities can be circumvented when a Pokémon is burnt, including Clear Body, which usually prevents stat reduction, still takes on the drop in attack caused by a burn.

If a burnt Pokémon with the Ability Trace or Role Play gains the Ability Water Veil the burn will be removed, but once the Ability is lost, the burn will return.

In Pokémon Emerald, when the player is inside the Battle Pyramid, the types of Pokémon encountered on each floor follow a set of categories, one of these categories is Pokémon with moves that burn.

In side games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

The Mystery Dungeon series introduces a new way for Pokémon to be burned, as well as a new way for it to be avoided. The Pokémon will lose 5 HP at the end of its next turn, and every 20 turns after that. Pokémon on water tiles cannot be burnt. Burns can be healed by stepping on water tiles (even by Pokémon for which this would normally cause a warp). In certain dungeons there is a special type of tile called a 'lava tile', which only Fire-type Pokémon, Pokémon who fly or levitate, and Pokémon with the IQ skill All-Terrain Hiker can walk through. However, a Pokémon that is not a Fire-type or that does not have the Lava Walker IQ Skill will be burned when walking through lava. Strangely, those that have the Float terrain Ability are also burned when going over lava tiles.

The effect of Guts also differs slightly, giving a 100% bonus to physical attack, provided that the Pokémon has a major status affliction. Pokémon with Natural Cure will suffer the effects of burn for up to five turns before being cured, whereas those with Self-Curer will only be burnt for ten turns.

My Pokémon Ranch

One of the toys the player can place in their Ranch is called the Bonfire. Pokémon, as well as Miis, that get too close to it are at risk of being burned. Fire-type Pokémon cannot be burned.

Pokémon Conquest

As in the main series, burned Pokémon suffer a penalty to their Attack, and take 1/8th their max HP as damage as the end of their army's turn, rounded down. This occurs even if the Pokémon took no action that turn. Pokémon can be burned by attacks, abilities, or the Pyro Nodes in Dragnor. Enemy Warriors who have their Pokémon defeated by burn damage are not treated as being defeated by the player and so cannot be recruited. Burned Pokémon can be cured through certain Warrior Skills, items, or by ending a Pokémon's turn in a hot spring or a water bucket.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

In the Phantom Thief Pokémon 7 manga

During a battle between Rocco's Magmortar and Hiori's Lucario in Challenge From A Rival, Lucario gets burned by Magmortar's Flame Body Ability, after several strategies to defeat the difficult opponent, Lucario uses the burn it received to its advantage, using the combined abilities of aura-sensing to see through Magmortar's SmokeScreen and the use of the move Facade (which was strengthened due to the burn), Lucario managed to knock out Magmortar using a surprise attack.

In the TCG

Burning is one of the five special conditions recognized in the TCG. It was officially recognized as a status condition during the 2002 release of the Expedition Base Set. It can be argued that the burning condition started in the Neo Genesis set, where Quilava's Char attack caused the exact same condition; however, it was not officially recognized as a special condition.

Once burned, a burn marker needs to be placed on the Pokémon and a coin must be flipped between turns. If it lands on heads, no damage occurs to the Pokémon, but if tails, two damage counters are placed on the card. Unlike in the games, special conditions are not necessarily mutually exclusive, allowing Pokémon to experience several special conditions all at once. Burning can also prevent Poké-Powers from working, but leaves most Poké-Bodies unaffected.

In the TCG there are few ways to remove a burn; including evolving a Pokémon, returning a Pokémon to the player's Bench, using specific attacks or using selected Trainer cards on the affected Pokémon.

In the TFG

Burning was never officially introduced in the Trading Figure Game as a status condition due to the cancellation of the project. However, there are references to its future introduction in the Corsola figure and the X Accuracy card from the Riptide Starter Set. The card implies that burn would have had something to do with the miss value.

In information discovered after the cancellation of the Unnamed Third Set, it was heavily implied that the burn status was planned for an official release in this set, as evidenced by three of the unreleasedfigurines.